How much information does human brain hold? like how many GB?
Haven't thought of it. I think it's not just GB. It's beyond TB even (TB = Terabytes)
How much new information can the brain consume daily?
Information processingI think that it is fundamental to think of anything the brain does is essentially information processing. In that regard, there is really no set limit.Now we do get tired and there is a whole bunch of literature dedicated to this. I'm not an expert on this, but think about factors such as neurotransmitter desensitization, which means parts of the brain become less responsive to certain input after prolonged or intensive input.Maximize capacity to learnThis is actually a whole separate line of research and there have been book written on this subject. But to summarize:Make sure you're well rested; make the situation in which you learn similar to the situation in which you want to retrieve the information; make sure you sleep enough hours, eight for most; take care of your other needs, such as regular breaks, healthy food and exercise. Learning more == Expansion of potential to learn?Many skills and much knowledge can help you learn and understand other things easier and faster. So in a way, yes. But don't think of the brain as a storage medium with a set capacity. Memories are best understood as a network of nodes connected by links of different weights. The more and stronger links some information has to others (whether it is new or old) is what makes it easier to store and retrieve.
If our brains can hold so much information, why do so many memories fade so quickly?
Two things help to make memory strong: impact and repetition. Do you remember where you were on Sept. 11, 2011? Do you remember how you felt when someone close to you died? That’s impact. The more personally meaningful something is to you, the higher the impact.Most other incoming information is mundane and makes only minimal impact on memory - called memory traces. For this type of information, repetition reinforces and strengthens those memory traces. Another factor, involving both impact and repetition, is the number of senses impacted. Hearing alone is probably the weakest input because it is so fleeting. Hearing and seeing involves two sensory systems and is thus more powerful. Add the other senses and you see how the impact/repetition grows.
How much information can the brain hold before you lose your train of thought?
A person can hold about 4–7 chucks of information in their mind. If a person gets distracted or has to hold the information for too long they may lose their train of thought. Processing and manipulation of the chunks of information lowers how much your brain can hold. By chucks, I mean a group of information.An example of processing chunks of information might be putting your 7 digit phone number in order of the value of numbers in your mind.http://www.livescience.com/2493-mind-limit-4.html
How much information can the Human Brain process or Store?
I'm a neurosurgeon. I don't think anyone will be able to give a satisfactory answer to that question, in large part because we don't have any meaningful units of measurement. We can't use "bytes" like in a computer. We can't determine how many "facts" someone knows. We might be able to work out reaction speeds etc. but we can't really pin down how many other things you are thinking of at the time and how that might influence it; we can't sort out how many people you know or what your total vocabulary is really; or how many slightly different scents you can recognize. Most of the time, we are unaware of the thousands of pieces of information we are constantly processing unconsciously, like air temperature, sounds around us, colour of text on screen, clock ticking, feel of socks on our feet, hair on our neck. We may notice out of the corner of our eye that our co-worker has gotten up; her unhurried walk and the smell of cappucino indicate that it's coffee break rather than an emergency evacuation, and our brain doesn't even consciously notify us of making the decision to stay at our desk. The brain can process massive amounts of information very quickly - you are actually doing complicated calculus every time you catch a flying ball! - but we don't have a good way to quantify it.
How much information can a 128MB thumbdrive hold?
It is amazing how many people who claim to know about computers get this wrong; it’s no wonder you’re confused… A byte is usually 8 bits. A bit is a one or a zero. The technical term for a byte is different (see the links below for the real definition of bytes). This means that a byte can usually have one of 256 (2^8) values. Bytes are usually used when talking about storage size and bits are usually used when talking about connection speed. By the way, the abbreviation for a megabyte is MB and the abbreviation for a megabit is Mb, however many people mistakenly use MB (and often megabytes) to describe megabits and Mb to describe megabytes--you often have to use context clues and common sense to know which one someone is referring to. Due the fact that it is easier to remember and is fairly close to the actual number, a megabyte is often referred to as 1,000,000 (one million) bytes, however the technical definition is 2^20 (2²º) or 1,048,576 bytes; 1,000,000 is so often used however, that it is almost impossible to tell which is being referred to. A kilobyte is often referred to as 1,000 (one thousand) bytes, but the technical definition is 2^10 (2¹º) or 1,024 bytes--thus, many people mistakenly say that that there are 1,000 kilobytes (KB) in a megabyte, when there are actually 1,024. A 128MB USB flash drive (a more generic term for thumbdrive) would hold slightly less than 128MB. This is caused by the fact that after formatting a drive (a necessary action before it can be used) the actual usable size is slightly decreased. Assuming that it IS exactly 128MB, a list of its actual sizes in different formats follows: Gigabytes (GB) = .125 Megabytes (MB) = 128 Kilobytes (KB) = 131,072 Bytes = 134,217,728 Gigabits (Gb) = 1 Megabits (Mb) = 1,024 Kilobits (Kb) = 1,048,576 Bits = 1,073,741,824 This means that an unformatted 128MB drive can hold a list of up to 1,073,741,824 ones or zeros. I admire that you are trying to learn about the often confusing world of computers, so if you have any further questions, feel free to contact me using the link on my profile page. For more information about bits and bytes (respectively), visit the links below: Bits: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bits Bytes: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byte
Is it true...that a brain cell can hold 5 times as much as an encyclopedia?
No, a brain cell is simply one neuron. The power of the brain comes from the fact that we have about 10 billion neurons, and each neuron has up to 10,000 synapses which are connections to other neurons. This mean you can have up to 100 trillion synapses or neural connections! This neural network is the basis for all our thought and intelligence, but a single neuron itself can be thought of as just one "on-off" switch. Either it fires, or it doesn't. Basically what a neuron does is sum all the potentials being channeled into it by its dendrite connections (in other words, it's input connections from other neurons). If the sum potential is more that some certain activation threshold, the neuron "fires", transmitting an electrical pulse down its axon and to all its outward bound synaptic connections. So, I'm sure whatever you copied from had a typographical error. Perhaps there was some confusion and maybe it was talking about the information coded into the DNA of a human cell (any cell, not just a brain cell), which often is described as containing an encyclopedia's amount of information? Anyhow, below is a great site from National Geographic which describes how the brain works, in as much as we know about it. There's also another link about neurons in general. Finally, there is a link about the brain and information storage capacity, where each neuron is treated as being able to hold 1 bit of information. A bit is a binary piece of information, either on or off, like a light switch as explained above. In terms of words and phrases, a bit isn't even enough to code for one letter of the English alphabet (you'd need at least 5 bits per letter). One bit of information is certainly a far cry from an encyclopedia!
Is there a limit to how much information the human brain stores per day? How many pages of information (on average) can you memorise per day?
Dear old friend,Brains, as they say in electronics, are analogue devices not digital. Their capacity for registering and storing information is infinite.However, the act of storing deserves explication. There are different models for memory formation; one of the most famous is Baddeley's model of working memory. All models agree that, for memories to form, there must be an inner spotlight that preferentially sheds light on what we wish to learn. In other words, we possess attention, and learning requires attention.Learning is entwined with another central cognitive faculty: imagination. Ponder upon the miracle of mnemonics. Or consider how you remembered where you put your keys today. Encoding and recall are dearly linked to imagination.Thus, restraints on these two cognitive faculties—attention and imagination—inevitably lead to impaired learning. Note the critical point here: the brain has no limit on memory, but memory formation is limited.Nonetheless, I’m sure you can attest to the faintness of these limits. If we are motivated enough to stay focused, have the sufficient metabolic means to do so, and are devoid of distracting thoughts, we can sustain optimal learning for extended periods. The conditions are difficult to attain, but not impossible.In regards to units, neural systems don’t store in units of pages or GB or the like. Rather, memories are associations. The idea is unspeakably elusive and enigmatic. We still don’t understand it fully. Yet, no doubt, a myriad of processes are involved. Synapses, potentiation, depression, circuits, etc. converge to create memories. Due to the complexity, we cannot state for certain that one is more crucial than the others for this memory or that.Altogether, you can maximize your potential for learning, reaching a stage where you can do it optimally for long, long hours on—even a stage where your thinking and understanding is completely revolutionized. But the path is not paved by neuroscience. The path is sought in inner evolution on all fronts—your brain, mind, and soul.
How much memory can our brain hold? Is it unlimited or is there a maximum?
There is absolutely a maximum, simply because neurons have a limited number of ways of storing information, and there are a limited number of neurons. They aren’t magical, so there is 100% guaranteed a maximum. Just like there’s an information maximum to any given CD, hard drive, clay tablet, book, or any other storage device.As for how much the maximum is, the main problem in answering that is that there’s no clear UNITS to human memories or ways to easily measure number of units per memory, yet at least. How many neurons? Who knows / depends on the current model you consider most convincing / and also one could be involved in multiple memories at once. How many synapses? Same thing, could be part of a whole network that is re-used when recalling more than one memory. We have almost no idea how many individual neurons are involved in a memory, how redundant they are, or other highly specific information like that. So we therefore cannot calculate a quantitative maximum amount that makes sense. Even though we can know there definitely IS a maximum.You could give VERY wide ranges of guesses, but still too wide to be particularly useful. Practically speaking, for now, it’s basically just “a whole lot”